Women of Rock Oral History Project Podcast

Ana da Silva is an artist and musician, best known as a founding member of influential punk rock band The Raincoats.

Peaches is a Canadian musician, producer, director, visual artist, and performance artist. Born in Ontario, Canada, Peaches began her musical career in the 1990s as part of a folk trio, Mermaid Cafe. In 1995, she established a rock band, the Shit. That year she also released her first solo album, Fancypants Hoodlum. After moving to Berlin, Germany, she was signed to the Kitty-Yo label and released her second album, The Teaches of Peaches (2000). She has released five full-length albums since 1995 and is known for her gender bending, provocative concerts and videos. 

Lynn Breedlove is an author, performer, poet, and the founding member and lead singer of the Bay area homocore band Tribe 8. He is the founder of the San Francisco based non-profit Homobiles, a California NPO 501c3 committed to providing secure and reliable transit to the SF Bay Area LGBTQIA+ community and its allies.

"Brooklyn based ROIR and  Invisiblegirl Recording  artist  Honeychild Coleman has worked with The Slits, Mad Professor, and Death Comet Crew (with  Rammellzee), is in documentaries “Afropunk,” (USA), "Firelies" & "Getting My Name Up There" (AUSTRIA)  and the MAKERS storytelling platform for trailblazing women (USA). Her music appears in Sundance awarded film "Pariah" (Focus Features) and U.K./Greece  “P.R.” (Indie).  She currently fronts  Blues-Punk outfit The 1865 (Mass Appeal Records), with Musician/Filmmaker Sacha Jenkins (Fresh Dressed / Of Mics and Men), whose music is in the Hulu series “Woke!” (USA, 2020)." - Honeychildcoleman.com 

Frances McKee is a Scottish singer and songwriter known best for her work in the Scottish indie band The Vaselines.

Emily Retsas is an Australian-born bass player living in Los Angeles. She has recorded and performed with Death Valley Girls, BoyGenius, Fiona Apple and Shirley Manson, Kim Gordon, and currently plays with Phoebe Bridgers. 

Melanie (or Melanie Safka), is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for the 1971-72 global hit "Brand New Key", her cover of "Ruby Tuesday", her composition "What Have They Done to My Song Ma", and her 1970 international breakthrough hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" (inspired by her experience of performing at the 1969 Woodstock music festival).

Melanie (or Melanie Safka), is an American singer-songwriter.  She is best known for the 1971-72 global hit "Brand New Key", her cover of "Ruby Tuesday", her composition "What Have They Done to My Song Ma", and her 1970 international breakthrough hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" (inspired by her experience of performing at the 1969 Woodstock music festival).

Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro and bassist Steve Lack.They are best known for their first single, "Seether", that was released on the 1994 album American Thighs. They followed up that success with 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You. By 1998, Post was the only original member still in the band and continued on with other musicians. Veruca Salt released the album Resolver in 2000 and the album IV in 2006. After a hiatus in 2012, the band reformed with its original lineup. Their fifth studio album, Ghost Notes, was released in 2015.

Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, "Seether", that was released on the 1994 album American Thighs. They followed up that success with 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You. By 1998, Post was the only original member still in the band and continued on with other musicians. Veruca Salt released the album Resolver in 2000 and the album IV in 2006. After a hiatus in 2012, the band reformed with its original lineup. Their fifth studio album, Ghost Notes, was released in 2015.

Ginger Coyote is a powerhouse. She the founder of the Bay Area punk band White Trash Debutantes and the seminal Punk Globe Magazine. 

Susan Quatro is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. In the 1970s she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in the UK, other European countries and Australia with her singles "Can the Can" and "Devil Gate Drive." I spoke with Suzi during the pandemic, and after the release of her documentary "Suzi." She currently lives in England and is working on a new record.

Lydia Lunch is a musician, author, historian and hysterian best known as founding member of the seminal No Wave band, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. In this oral history, Lydia Lunch details her teenage years in Rochester, New York and her move to New York City as a 14 year-old runaway with aspirations of becoming a spoken word artist. She recounts her early experiences and relationships in New York in the mid 1970s and details her notable musical and artistic projects and significant collaborations. She discusses her motivations, reputation and sexuality as well as her immense output of physical work and her plans for the future.

Kate Schellenbach is a drummer, was a founding member of the Beastie Boys and drummer of Luscious Jackson who reached commercial success with the release of their single “Naked Eye” in 1997. Schellenbach discusses her musical career, touring, gender and sexuality, as well as the backlash against female-fronted bands in the early 2000s. She talks about her family, motherhood, her upbringing and musical training, as well as her current career in television production.

Viola Smith is an American drummer best known for her work in orchestras, swing bands, and popular music from the 1920s until 1975. She was one of the first professional female drummers and started her career with her family band, The Smith Sisters Orchestra, followed by Phil Spitalny’s Hour of Charm Orchestra. She describes working in New York during WWII, being a female musician, and the success of all-girl bands during that time period. She details her career after the dissolution of the Hour of Charm, and her life, presently, in California.

Shirley Manson is a vocalist and musician best known as lead singer of the band Garbage. In this interview, Manson discusses her childhood, education, and relationship with her family, as well as her musical career in bands Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie and Angelfish. She details how she joined Garbage, the bands trajectory to success, 7-year hiatus and comeback in 2012. Manson also talks in detail about the music industry, sexism, gender, and ageism.

Brenda Lee is an American performer and the top-charting solo female vocalist of the 1960s. She sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s, and is ranked fourth in that decade surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles.

Freda Payne is an American singer and actress, best known for her career in music during the mid–1960s through the mid–1980s. Her most notable record is her 1970 hit single, "Band of Gold". Payne was also an actress in musicals and film, as well as the host of a TV talk show.

Terri Nunn is a singer and actress best known as the lead vocalist and founding member of the synth pop band Berlin. She joined the band In 1978 and left briefly to pursue an acting career. Nunn rejoined Berlin in 1981 and they released their first album, Pleasure Victim in 1982 featuring the singles "Metro" and "No More Words." The band achieved a no. 1hit In 1986 with "Take My Breath Away" which appeared on soundtrack for the film Top Gun. In this interview, she discusses her upbringing, trajectory to success, family life, aging in the public eye, and Berlin's reunion.

Genya Ravan is a singer best known for her tenure in The Escorts, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive. She is also a producer and engineer and recorded the Dead Boys debut album, Young, Loud, and Snotty, and Ronnie Spector's Siren. She hosts two monthly radio shows, Chicks and Broads, and Goldies Garage. Ravan published a memoir in 2004 and was the subject of a musical based on her life In 2016.